Thanks to good weather, the May Fish-Watch
trip included 3 Fish-Watch Dives with Underwater World from Durban
and African Watersports in Umkomaas and 9 fish collecting dives.
As usual with Fish-Watch trips, our collections and Fish-Watch Dives serve
a multitude of interests. The Fish-Watch Dives not only provide the
opportunity to assist divers in identifying fishes and help them to learn
more about fishes and the benefits of joining the Project, but these dives
also provide the opportunity for us (Grahamstonians) to get in the water
to collect fishes and study the fish diversity of Aliwal Shoal.

In our first collection at Sodwana,
we got a rare halfscaled jawfish, Opistognathus margaretae. This
little jawfish was previously known from one specimen from Sodwana Bay,
one from Kenya and two from Ponta do Ouro, Mozambique.
Jawfishes live in burrows, and they have a very large mouth – even larger
in the male, as he carries the fertilized eggs in his mouth for several
days until they hatch. Our photograph is the first good photo of
a fresh specimen.

On our first Fish-Watch Dive at Aliwal
we did Wrasses Part 1, and I was surprised to see the cigar wrasse. Cheilio
inermis. In the pre-dive briefing, I mentioned that although
the cigar wrasse was shown on the underwater Worksheet that we were using
for this dive, it was unlikely that we would see any on the Shoal; as this
species is typically seen on seagrass beds, and there isn’t much in the
way of seagrass beds on the Shoal. In fact, I saw 3 cigar wrasses
on this dive; none were over seagrass, and one was swimming alongside a
large blacksaddle goatfish, Parupeneus rubescens. The wrasse
was probably expecting the goatfish would frighten some prey from the sandy
patches on the Shoal as the goatfish roots about with its snout and barbels
looking for food.

HAWKFISHES
(Family Cirrhitidae): We have recently made significant improvements in
our knowledge of South African hawkfishes. On this latest visit,
we got an adult of the humpback hawkfish, Cirrhitichthys guichenoti
at Manta Point. It looks similar to the spotted hawkfish, Cirrhitichthys
oxycephalus, but it has a longer snout (snout length greater than eye
diameter) and a distinctly humped back. This species was previously
known from Mauritius and Madagascar, and the small juvenile that we got
at Aliwal last year is the first record of the species from southern Africa.
And we also collected the paletail hawkfish, Cirrhitichthys aprinus
at Aliwal. This Indo-West Pacific species was reported from the Maldives
in 1998, but our specimen is the first record for southern Africa. (to
read our article about these fish, click here).

We collected a large specimen of
the undescribed scaly-jaw koester, (Acanthistius sp 188.2 from Smiths’
Sea Fishes). This specimen lacks the characteristic dark brown oval
blotch on the gill cover; but this fish is an adult male, and it seems
likely that the dark blotch on the gill cover is characteristic of the
smaller (female) specimens of this species. Like most serranids,
the koester is probably a sequential hermaphrodite: after spawning as a
female for a year or two, it changes sex and functions as a male for the
rest of its life.

We got another brown banded pipefish,
Halicampus zavorensis. This is the second specimen collected
from Aliwal; previously known from 3 fish collected from Mozambique and
Oman.

We can now add the narrow-striped
pipefish, Doryrhamphus bicarinatus, to our list of Aliwal fishes.
Previously known from Sodwana and Inhaca Island.Dragon moray, Enchelycore pardalis,
Aliwal Shoal; this is the second specimen collected in South African waters,
the first specimen was found in tide pool at Scottburgh. A photo
of a dragon moray from Sodwana was recently submitted by new members Stef
and Fanie Kriel.

We collected and photographed a male
rough-head triplefin, Norfolkia brachylepis in breeding colours
and showing a russet second dorsal fin.

We collected what appears to be Fusigobius
humeralis at Sodwana; a new goby for southern Africa. Previously
known in the Indian Ocean from the Maldives, Red Sea and Chagos.

A pair of new dragonets, (Family
Callionymidae) were collected at Aliwal Shoal. The male has a tall,
colourful first dorsal fin; the female is not so spectacular. This
species appears to be different from the dragonets known for southern Africa.

This trip was also useful for training
two students from the Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science,
James Stapley and Monica Mwale. James is an “old hand” on Fish-Watch
trips, and he is also the Webmaster for the East Coast Fish-Watch Project.
James and Monica helped with fish identification, preservation, collecting
tissue samples for DNA analysis and photography. This was Monica’s
first trip; she is doing her Ph.D. research on pipefish biology and
taxonomy.

Another new member of the team was
Steve Warren, the aquarist from Bayworld
in Port Elizabeth. Steve is a Dive Supervisor, and he supervised
our SCUBA dives to ensure that we dive safely and within the regulations
stipulated by the Department of Labour for Scientific Diving. Steve
was also successful in collecting some fishes & corals for the aquarium
displays at Bayworld. We are grateful that Bayworld
provided the opportunity for Steve join us.

And the last member of our May team
was Tom Hooper, a colleague from Rodrigues Island. Tom is involved
in studies of the marine flora and fauna of Rodrigues, and Elaine and I
spent 6 weeks there in September and October of last year to do a survey
of the fishes at the island. Tom is also interested in our East Coast
Fish-Watch Project, as he would like to do something similar at Rodrigues
to help teach the local people, as well as the tourists, to better understand
and appreciate their rich fish diversity.

We also continued our collaboration
with EKZN Wildlife when
their staff joined us for two of our fish collecting dives at Aliwal
Shoal.

Elaine Heemstra was able to complete
all of the required dives for her Scientific Diver Certification except
for the zero visibility dives. She was a great help with fish collections,
identification, photography, and record keeping.

We are grateful to Underwater
World in Durban and African
Watersports in Umkomaas for organising the Fish-Watch Dives at
Aliwal Shoal. Mark Addison of Blue
Wilderness Dive Expeditions and Neville Ayliff of Reef-Teach
assisted with their knowledge of local reefs and affordable aquatic transport
for our fish survey work. Fish-Watch members Ruth and Ginger Seipp
of Riverview Bed & Breakfast provided Natalian hospitality and
affordable accommodation.

(once we have our (currently broken)
slide scanner back we will show you pictures of these new fishes).